Unit name | Aesthetics and Criticism |
---|---|
Unit code | MUSI30029 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Professor. Fairclough |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
This unit is normally only available to students registered on a Single or Joint Honours Music programme |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Music |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit introduces certain central concepts within music aesthetics through close reading of selected texts. These concepts will include theories of imitation (mimesis), expression and form, concepts of musical time, classifications of art and the phenomenology of musical works. Both topical and historical perspectives will be invoked. The texts will be drawn mainly from classical thought (Aristotle, Plato), 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy (Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer), and 20th-century critical theory (Adorno, Barthes).
Aims:
This unit aims to introduce students to the sometimes complex aesthetic contexts within which music was situated during the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It will focus on key problematics such as the concept of an art-work in music, formation of judgements, the nature and status of instrumental music, the emergence of romanticism, usage of music, authorship and readership, and the role of the creative artist in society.
Successful completion of this unit will enable students to:
Weekly Seminars.
One 3000-word coursework essay (50%) and one 3000-word individual project on an approved topic (50%).